Is Google Force Feeding Ads Not Relative To Your Content?

I came across some really screwy Google AdSense behavior the other day.  I Googled something.  Can’t remember what it was.  For conversation’s sake, let’s say it was for lawnmowers.  After that I was doing some work on one of my fitness blogs.

The AdSense ads I have on my blog always display ads relative to my fitness content.  After I had written a post and published it, I visited the post to make sure everything was OK.  Guess what shows up in place of the usual fitness ads?  You got it, lawnmower ads.

It just happened again.  A friend of mine in IL said her brother was moving to Orange County, CA.  She asked me what was there.  So I Googled it and told her.

Then I was reading an article on www.ezinearticles.com about metal detectors.  I followed the link to the metal detector site.  That site had sectioned called Free Backlinks.  Right under the section header is an AdSense link unit displaying a few links about backlinks, relative to the article on the site, as it should be.  BUT, take a look at what showed up as the 4th listing…Orange County.  What the fuck is up with that?

UPDATE:  August 30, 2010

As of this morning, I now know what’s happening.  I read it in the paper this morning.  Funny how shit just falls into my lap within hours or days of an event.  Happens to me constantly.

This whole thing is called “remarketing” and Google’s, per se, is not doing it.  It’s a feature of AdWords that is available on the campaign level via the Audiences tab.  Creating an audience list is a lot like getting code for displaying AdSense on your site.  An audience list is nothing more than a title and an optional description assigned to some code that Google generates that you insert into your web pages.  This code is called a “tag”.

For every page that includes a tag, a visitor’s computer gets cookied.  So if I’m running a website for adult toys, not that I would ever do something like that, as the visitor went about their business surfing other sites that displayed AdSense ads, my dildo ads would display, hence, the remarketing of your website.

This has some pros and cons.  The whole thing about AdSense is to get paid when someone clicks on the ads on your site.  If you do your homework, you can create highly targeted niche websites that attractive some very expensive advertising and it can be quite profitable.  I know of several people who generate well over $400/day just in AdSense revenue.

Anyhoo, so lets say I’m a niche marketer and do my homework and get $2.50/click per ad on a site.  This actually is something I’m already doing on one of my sites and yes, each click is getting me $2.50.  Then let’s say someone on my site gets remarketed for dog collars because they were on the PetsMart site looking for dog collars.  And let’s say that dog collar ad only gets me .10/click.  That’s fucked up!  Remarketing has the potential for pushing out the high paying ads on MY site.  It’s basically some other business forcing THEIR advertising on MY site.

AdSense is supposed to be about displaying ads relative to MY content, not traipsing mud across my website from some shithole mud puddle on some other asshole’s website the visitor just came from.  Leave your fucking boots at the front door, fucker.  It’s stealing traffic.  It’s graffiti on my site.  It’s like some band plastering their posters over the top of some other band’s posters on fucking Sunset Blvd.  It’s evil and there are a lot of ad networks doing this, not just Google.  Get the shovel.